He had to keep running
by SamTaylor17
Summary: A mysterious man pursued by strange foes appears, how will he aid Naruto in becoming the Hokage?
1. Chapter 1

He had to keep running, he knew, because they were after him, and he had to get away.

He had been running for hours, and had kept ahead of his pursuers thus far, gaining some distant when he had passed through that strange gate… but there was no time to think, had to focus on running.

It was at this point that the man tripped.

It was a bad fall, because when the man attempted rise, he found with a growing horror that he couldn't. His ankle was sprained, and he lacked the energy needed to run anyways.

"Well" the man said "At least this is a beautiful place".

And he was right. The place in which he had fallen was indeed beautiful, with a light dew on the grass, and a river running beneath the trees into the distance, it was indeed a beautiful night.

The man waited, knowing that his pursuers would arrive soon, and he began to prepare for this land stand.

The man, who was in fat a priest, was not ordinary in any sense. This man was a warrior priest, meaning that he had a great spiked mace strapped to his back, and a breastplate attach with leather bindings to his chest. Not to mention, this man had many powerful enchantments with which he could make his last stand noteworthy.

Soon, they were in sight, a line of silent men, clad all in black, walking slowly and silently into the clear area.

The man waited, knowing the fight would begin soon.

An enemy soldier, who could be easily identified as the leader, moved forward slightly, and raised his black-garbed arm to the sky.

'I'm going to die when he lowers that arm… so be it' the man thought, as he braced himself for the inevitable.

The black-garbed man drew a long serrated sword with his other hand, began to lower the arm that would mark the death of a good man… and promptly fell over when an object rammed itself into his eye!

The priest was startled 'My god… help has arrived!!'

And that it had, more projectiles rained out from the darkness, killing many of the black-garbed assassins where they stood, and sending the few remaining into panicked flight.

Several figures emerged from the surrounding foliage after a few moments, and silently approached the wounded priest.

The priest knew he was about to lose consciousness, and made one comment before he fell over.

"Who are you people?..."

"He never heard the reply of "We're friends"

The mysterious saviors then calmly picked up the priest, gently of course, and carried him away to places unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing the priest thought as he began to regain consciousness wasn't exactly brilliant.

"Hey… I'm not dead"

Duh

Anyways, the priest sat up slowly… and immediately fell back in pain

"Crap… my body's been through the ringer, I'm lucky I'm still alive… speaking of which, where are the people who saved me?"

"So you're awake"

The priest snapped his head around, and was encountered with a strange site.

A man walked in the room and shut the door behind him, he wore a green vest, with blue clothing underneath, as well as a piece of metal on his forehead with a symbol engraved into it, and a mask over the lower half of his face.

However, the strangest part of this visitor's appearance was the big shock of silver hair that seemed to perch precariously, almost as if it were about to fall off!

"You've been asleep for the last 3 days, the doctors and nurses have managed to heal most of the major wounds you've suffered, but you may need to spend another day or so here, just in case" At which point the strange man made an "eye smile", as the rest of his face was hidden.

The absorbed the information, and then responded with a question "Where am I? What country is this?" he asked.

The silvered haired man responded "You are in the country of fire, in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, I am Kakashi, a member of the Ninja forces here"

Needless to say, the priest had no idea what to say, he had no idea what Kakashi was talking about, he had never heard of the country of fire, what could have happened…

'Of course!!' thought the priest, it must have been the gate I passed through, I sensed something was amiss when I entered it!!

The priest then collected his wits, and said, "Well Kakashi, I don't know what to say, I've never met a ninja before, I've never even heard of this country before, however, this is because I've come from a distant land, fleeing the enemies that I'm sure you've been told about"

Kakashi replied "Of course I understand, there are said to be land to the west of here that are unexplored territory, maybe you can explain them to me sometime" Then he eye smiled again.

The priest grinned back "Thank you very much Kakashi, however, as much as I would love to continue this conversation, I have to go to sleep now, I feel like I've just been trample by a horde of rampant bulls!"

Kakashi nodded "I understand, I'll take you on a tour of the village tomorrow if you're up to it" Then Kakashi walked to the door, walking out quickly, and closing it behind him.

The priest promptly fell back into darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

The priest was in fact ready to go out the next day, and after being given his clothes (minus holes and blood stains) back, he was ready to explore and learn about this new land he had ended up in.

'Things are nice here' The priest thought, as he watched the hustle and bustle of the town. He spotted small shops, convenience stores, tourists, and a distinct lack of cars, which was a welcome relief.

'I hate cars' The priest thought sourly 'They're annoying and loud'

Kakashi attempted start up a conversation "So… um… what's your name friend?"

The priest smiled "My name is Hughes, of the priestly order of Centurios, and leader of the 2nd battalion of Battle Priests"

Kakashi simply eye smiled again, obviously unimpressed with the title "Well that's interesting, you should tell me more about that sometime" Meaning that he really didn't care.

Hughes simply smiled again, and went back to the silence.

After a while, the priest asked "Would you mind if I wandered around for a while, and just get the layout of the town?"

Kakashi said "Sure, go ahead, your apartment has been set up downtown, don't worry it's already been cleared with the leader of the village, here's your keys and the directions" And with the passing over of these much needed items, Kakashi quickly vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Hughes stared at the place Kakashi had been standing in for a second, and then thought what most junior ninja think when they see this.

'Man I have GOT to learn how to do that!'

Hughes walked on, and soon became quite frustrated, because he had gotten lost twice after leaving the area that Kakashi had left him in, and been yelled at twice when he had stumbled over an old lady who had seemed to pop out of nowhere!!

Eventually he stopped for directions, and grabbed the first person who got close enough, who just happened to be a young boy with blue eyes and blonde hair.

Hughes wasn't expecting the child to scream.


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto screamed

And screamed…

And screamed

Hughes was in a panic 'What did I do!! I mean sure, I grabbed his arm, but he's acting like I killed his best friend or something!!'

Finally, after about 5 minutes of screaming Hughes acted calmly and collected

"Kid, will you please stop YELLING!!!"

Yeah, calm and collected, right

The crying boy looked up, and abruptly stopped crying, because in the face of this strange man he saw not a hint of malice, simply exasperation, and a small amount of irritation.

Naruto sniffled "Sorry sir, I just… I'm not used to people touching me" he admitted sadly

Hughes stared 'The boy… he must be an orphan, and he looks sad, maybe I can help with that'

Abruptly, the priest smiled "Well boy, to make up for startling you, would you like it if I treated you to some lunch?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to stare. No one had EVER treated him to lunch before… hell, they had never even looked at him nicely before, except for a few certain people.

'He seems so nice… why not, I'll get free lunch out of it, and maybe a new friend' He thought happily

"Alright sir, lets get going!!!!!" At which point Naruto took off like a kunai, flying down the street towards his favorite stand, Ichiraku Ramen.

With a grin to match the one on Naruto's face, Hughes took off at a limping gait, attempting to keep up the young 'scamp'.

Later on, the two new friends sat at Ichiraku Ramen, enjoying the food

"Well Naruto, you weren't kidding when you said this food was good, my compliments to the chef" He smiled at the girl behind the bar, you blushed profusely.

Naruto, who had just blazed through his umpteenth bowl, finally sat back and smiled

"Well, thanks for the meal gramps, so, what did you want with me earlier?"

"Well Naruto, I was hoping you could help me find my new home, I just moved here and I've been lost for the last three hours" Hughes admitted with an embarrassed laugh

Naruto grinned and laughed good naturedly "I can help you there, lets see, the eastern quarter right, well, that's so cool, you live in my apartment complex, right down the hall from me!!!"

So the two friends, an old priest, and a young blonde walked to the apartment complex, which was not as glamorous as the old priest thought it might be.

'This place is a DUMP, I can't believe the kid lives here' Of course, out loud he said "Well, come on Naruto, lets go inside"

The two entered the building, and Naruto led the old man up to his room

"Here you go Hughes, you might want to get ready for bed soon, it's almost six, old men need their sleep" Naruto laughed uproariously at this comment.

He failed to get a rise out of the old man however, who simply said "I could say the same for young wippersnappers, how old are you, five? Six?"

Naruto snorted "I'm seven old man!! Well Goodnight!!" And with this parting comment, the young boy ran to his room, and disappeared inside.

Hughes sighed 'I'll never understand young people' He thought wryly

He then entered his room, and, taking, Naruto's advice, began to prepare for bed


	5. Chapter 5

Hughes was having trouble sleeping, he kept hearing something from the other room, and it sounded like someone was bouncing around on the bed.

Naruto

With an irritated sigh (yes, I know he sighs a lot), Hughes got out of bed and began to walk, leaving his room, and walking down the hall. He figured that it was just Naruto getting rambunctious, and that he could probably quiet the boy down and get some more much needed rest.

He wasn't as young as he used to be

The old priest never expected to see what he saw in Naruto's room.

He saw a black shadow on top of the boy

He saw that this shadow had a knife

He saw that this shadow was about to plunge the knife into the boy who he had befriended

He roared

With a speed that most young men could barely comprehend, Hughes through himself upon the assailant, his roar forming into one word

**VAE!!!!** (Woe in Latin)

The assailant was sent flying off the bed, through the cupboard that was in an unfortunate position against the wall, and then through the wall of the apartment complex.

Hughes quickly scanned the room searching the room for assailants

There were none

Just as the old priest was about to turn and check on the young boy, he was promptly sending flying with said boy's arms wrapped around his stomach.

Naruto was sobbing

Not loudly mind you, but still sobbing his heart out. The boy was terrified, and Hughes allowed the boy to stay in this position on his lap, and let it all out.

After the boy had fallen asleep, Hughes calmly picked up the boy and took him to his own room, laying him on his own bed, and making sure he was comfortable.

The priest slept on the couch

The next day, it was made official by the Hokage, that Naruto would live with the old battle priest, under his protection, and for all intensive purposes, seeing him as his long lost father.

The two lived happily for the next five years, helping each other, and at the age of twelve, Naruto was taught the fundamental spells and prayers of a battle priest.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto was pumped, it was the time for the Genin exams!!

The 12 year old ran down the street as fast as he could, eager to get to the school early. He was wearing standard attire that most apprentice battle priests are expected to wear, a black robe, with a symbol of a pare of crossed maces over a background of fire imprinted over the heart. The boy also wore a leather cuirass, which could block most iron weaponry, as well as a great mace slung on his back.

Naruto made it to the school early, which was fairly normal for him, after Hughes had come into his life, he had focused more on his studied, and had thrived.

Now, not only was the boy an aspiring young ninja, but he was also a battle priest, a warrior who used holy magic in combat against the enemy.

Once Naruto was inside, he walked to his seat, and sat down waiting for the rest of his classmates to arrive.

As they filed in one after the other over the next few minutes, Naruto scanned them to see if they were nervous, because he certainly was!!

'Man, I still can't do a decent bunshin!! Good thing I've got a backup plan… Hopefully Iruka will like it!!'

Eventually, the teacher came in, and explained the rules for the test, and began the exams.

The first part was a paper exam, which was difficult, but still manageable

The second part was target practise, at which point Naruto through his mace like a spear, hitting the target dead center.

Last came the part that Naruto had been dreading, the bunshin test, so he put up his hand and said "Iruka sensei, I have a problem, I still can't make bunshin, but can I perform another wicked jutsu, will you let me pass?" at which point Naruto made a face that said 'Í'll die if I don't do this, please please!! PLEASE!!!!!'

Iruka sighed 'Well, I guess I could let him pass if he did that, but I don't want to look like I'm favoring him over the other students, so he'll have to make it incredible'

"Alright Naruto, perform this jutsu for me" Was Iruka's reply

Naruto grinned "Alright sensei"

Naruto ran to the front of the room and faced the class, many of whom were chuckling and waiting for the weird looking kid in the robe to flunk the test.

Naruto tuned out all noise, and focused on the voice of Hughes in his head

'_Naruto, hold onto my voice, focus all the power which you call chakra into you chest, and prepare to summon help from the heavens_'

Naruto began to chant, first in a low voice, but then louder, and steadily louder, until everyone could here the words, although no one understood them

"What is he saying I wonder" muttered Uchiha Sasuke, the number one rookie ninja in the academy.

"Whatever it is, it must be powerful" said Shikamaru, hands down the smartest academy student of his generation.

The chant was growing louder still, until everyone had to cover their ears, and even through this they saw the glow that was surrounding the young genin hopeful.

Suddenly, the roof over Naruto exploded, and a beam of light from the heavens hit the young boy and surrounded him in blinding light.

An instant later, everyone could see again, and the class started at Naruto

Or who they thought Naruto was

What stood before them was a giant in armore, surrounding by a glowing aura, fairly radiating power, with a massive mace slung over one shoulder.

Iruka looked on, seemingly unimpressed "Naruto, that's just a transformation jutsu, with some fancy light thrown in, here I can prove it" At which point the teacher reached towards Naruto's arm, intent on showing the disadvantages of transformation jutsus

His hand met the armored arm of Naruto

The shocked teacher started and then backed up, and said only one word

"pass"

The Naruto began to shrink, the armor and aura of light disappearing

"Yes!!! Woohoo!! I pass!!!" Naruto then began running out of the room, intent on telling the good news to his father

"Naruto!! Come to school next week to find out who your teammates are!!" Iruka yelled after him

"Alright Iruka sensei!!"

Needless to say, all of the boy's classmates were shocked, Naruto had never done anything like that, and everyone wanted to learn about it.

Especially a certain Uchiha and a certain platinum blonde girl


	7. Chapter 7

Naruto beamed

He had passed the Genin exams, and was pumped to see which people would be on his team

To tell the truth, a lot of people, mainly a large portion of the female population of the academy, wanted to be on the boys' team as well

The blonde boy glanced around, taking in the sites, and waited for the teacher to begin the opening speech

As the Iruka jumped into the speech, Naruto allowed himself to lose himself in meditation, listening to everything and nothing at the same time

And paying absolutely no attention whatsoever

"Well, this will be our last class together, I hope you all enjoyed your time with me, unfortunately, Mizuki couldn't be here, because of an incident concerning a hidden scroll… well, are their any questions?"

There were none

"Alright then, you will now be divided into your teams, team 11, eleven…"

And thus Naruto allowed himself to fall back into meditation again, until of course, he heard his name

"Team seven, Naruto Uzumaki, Yamanaka Ino, and Sakura Haruno"

Naruto grimaced, both of the aforementioned girls were fangirls, for either him or Sasuke Uchiha, who he got along well with

And both had no patience for fangirls

'Why me?' Naruto thought, as he glanced over at both girls, who wewre barely containing their squeals of joy

Meanwhile, Sasuke, was relieved

''Thank Kami, I didn't get stuck with blondie and pinkie, THANK YOU!'

"All of your teachers will be here soon, please be patient and wait" were Iruka's final words before he left, smiling at Naruto, whom he had a special fondness for, as he went out the door

And so the newly formed team seven waited

And waited…

And… waited

Both of the girls were getting edgy, although Naruto was meditating and didn't notice anything

Ino, in a rare moment of clarity, had an idea, she might be able to use this moment to closer to Naruto!!

'It's brilliant' she thought 'I can sit next to him while he's meditating, and he'll never know, take that billboard brow!!' At which point the blonde girl began to slide down towards a seat next to Naruto

Only to find it had been taken by "billboard brow"

At this point, Ino's eye twitched…

And twitched again…

And then all hell broke lose

The two girls began fighting over the seat, verbally, and then the argument began to escalate, and just as the two girls were about to come to blows, Sakura looked over at where Naruto had been not more than 10 seconds ago, and gasped

"Hey, where's Naruto?"

Both girls were clueless, and failed to realize that Naruto was hanging from the rafters, desperately hoping neither girl would look up

And it was at this point that Kakashi, the new sensei of team seven, walked in


	8. Chapter 8

Naruto sometimes wondered, what was the purpose of life

Hell… what was his purpose in life?…

Of course, none of that mattered at the moment, as yet another barrage of kunai knives slashed passed his fleeing form.

Naruto ducked and dodged, running through the trees, nearly slipping in the mud, as the torrential downpour continued.

"Dammit!" Naruto whispered under his breath, why did things have to happen like this.

The young battle priest thought back a couple months ago, after the bell test, which his team had managed to pass by the skin of it's teeth, Naruto, Ino, and Sakura had done many D – Ranked missions, and, after a while, had demanded this C – Rank mission.

It had seemed so simple at first, protect a bridge builder, help with the bridge, and then go home, simple… right?

… wrong…

Their jounin sensei, Hatake Kakashi, was currently engaged in a pitched battle with Momochi Zabuza, a ferocious former ninja of the Mist Village.

In the fighting, three of Zabuza's subordinates had attacked the group of genin, forcing them to flee in separate directions. Naruto wasn't worried about his own safety, but was worried about the girls, neither of whom were very powerful in close combat.

However, these thoughts were lost when Naruto's opponent dropped to the ground in front of him, a savage looking brute with poisoned gauntlets.

""You're dead meat genin" the barbaric ninja growled, and threw a couple kunai before closing for taijutsu combat.

Naruto, however, was ready for him, because, unknown to the enemy ninja, Naruto had been thoroughly trained in the ways of the battle priests…

… all of whom excelled in close combat…

Naruto pulled his warhammer of his back, shouted a brief incantation, and roared a challenge to his rapidly closing opponent.

The two ninjas clashed in a contest of skill, with neither gaining a clear advantage. The barbaric ninja, one of the demon brothers of the Mist, used his gauntlets as precision instruments, cutting and slashing, attempting to overwhelm the defenses of the embattled genin.

His efforts were in vain, as Naruto shouted once again, roaring for all to hear, shouting out the words of an incantation of summoning.

The Demon Brother fell back, looking in awe at the blonde as he began to glow, and then in shock as two forms appeared abruptly on either side of the blonde boy, who was, at this point, grinning from ear to ear.

"Well, my Valkyrie friends, would you like a shot my enemy?" Naruto asked cheekily.

Neither of the Valkyries spoke, but both charged forward in a blaze of lightning, and the enemy Ninja soon found himself on the defensive.

Seeing that his friends had things well in hand, Naruto left as fast as he could , running to find his teammates, and perhaps plan some sort of coordinated defense…

… he would not be happy with what he would find….

To be continued!!


	9. Chapter 9

It was done…

The job was done…

It had been a truly viscous battle between the two opposing groups of ninja

Kakashi, the leader of the team, had killed Zabuza, but had lost an arm in the struggle.

Naruto and Sasuke, the two more powerful Genin on the team from Konoha, had both killed their opponents, but Sasuke was hurt, badly, and Naruto had nothing left with which to fight…

Sakura had surprised them all though, by holding off the masked ninja, who's name was Haku, even when trapped Haku's Ice Dome, even when everything was stacked against her, she managed to come through, holding Haku off until, Naruto and Sasuke could finish the Ice Ninja off.

That was how Sasuke had been injured, in a desperation move, Haku had pumped all of his remaining chakra into a pair of the ice mirrors, causing them to explode

Effectively killing himself, and wounding the two male Genin

And it was to this site that Gatou arrived upon, along with his mercenaries

It was to this site, that the villagers arrived upon

And Naruto thought, as both of the parties approached

'Well… this sucks'


End file.
